Unbelievably Interesting Trey Anastasio Interview

I just got an email with a link to a rather frank interview with Trey Anastasio, and I just have to run through it. Trey openly discusses the role that drugs had in Phish’s breakup–I am actually shocked. I think it was a very well-written piece and it’s easily worth highlighting a couple key passages.

His peripatetic style can lead him to get ahead of himself. Anastasio admits he unveiled his new band, dubbed 70 Volt Parade, a bit too early

I’ll go ahead and agree with that one.

“I … care about those people; I’ve got myself in a situation where I want them to be happy,” Anastasio said. “That’s so much of what Phish was. It was our job from the stage with the music, with the thinking of all the ideas and crazy things — ‘Hey, let’s do “Dark Side of the Moon” the night after Halloween!’ — all of that was nurturing a community.”

I wasn’t really into Phish at the time (and I know I’m newb-ing myself by saying that), so I never really went back and read reviews of this show. I always had a feeling that this was the true motive of so much of what they did, and the truth comes straight from the source. I guess it’s a conflicting position as a band to try and be fresh and yet at the same time try and nurture what the community might expect.

“For Coventry, our guest list was between 2,500 and 3,000 people,” Anastasio said. “It was like a nightmare backstage — very dark. But still, it was great to be onstage with my friends,” Anastasio said.

Very dark, indeed. I would not have walked away from Coventry a happy person, and hell, I only listened to a broken-ass radio stream on the internet.

“And then who knows? Maybe we could all play together again. I’d love it.”

Wow.

I think it is starting to make sense. From the botched Coventry weekend to the sloppy Vegas run, Phish fans had started to question the ear urination that they were receiving. The musical diarrhea, if you will. And hell, I did enjoy it at the time. It’s just scary to think that this is something that can cripple something so genius. It’s scary to think that this can be attributed to the scene, and yet, we are the scene. We can do better. We don’t have to let “hard drugs” creep into the hands of the band’s road manager.

I do understand that drugs are going to be a rampant hobby for many, many, many musicians (and artists alike). I certainly don’t like to think of the effect they have on the music and where Phish might have been today had drugs not taken over. If we can even fully believe that, but yet he seems completely intent on reminding fans that there was a glory in Phish that can’t be denied. Maybe the band mates and Trey himself are all completely sober now, as Trey is already in his own words. Maybe that does mean that a reunion might be possible.

Whatever. Don’t do oxycontin next time, then…